In the winter of 2009, my family made the move from Montreal to Toronto. While I had interviewed for leadership positions at a number of schools across North America, when I received an offer from TanenbaumCHAT, my decision was easy: this is where I wanted to be.
Ironically, I had already booked a plane ticket to come see a basketball game (the Raptors were playing my beloved Lakers) and, thinking I had planned my trip perfectly, I was flying into the downtown airport rather than into Pearson. So, once I landed, I had my first experience on the Toronto subway, riding all the way uptown to sign my new contract, and then traveling back downtown again to the game.
My wife and I were unsure of how to break the news of the move to our young children. However, help came in the form of TanenbaumCHAT swag. I received some t-shirts from the school which I proudly gave the boys when we told them where we would be living. These shirts quickly became ‘sleeping shirts’, which they eventually wore out.
Objects have a way of triggering memory. Whether from something recent or decades earlier, objects can help us relive memories or recall the emotions related to an event. In this issue of the magazine, we have gathered 50 artifacts from the history of TanenbaumCHAT that, in some way, help signify who we are. We hope they evoke memories, positive emotions and even some laughs as you take our trip down memory lane.
Over the last 14 years, TanenbaumCHAT has come to be a central institution for my whole family. Two of my children are already graduates, a third is a current student, and my youngest (not yet born when the photo was taken) will be coming next year. Thus far, each of their experiences has been unique and extraordinary. The shirts were the first link to our new home, in a new city, with a new basketball team.
